Clinical medication administration errors rates post implementation of the EMS and change in error rates between baseline and post-EMS
| Clinical error category | Control wards | Intervention wards | Change between control and intervention wards preintervention and postintervention* | ||
| Administrations with error/number of administrations | Error rate per 100 administrations (95% CI) | Administrations with error/number of administrations | Error rate per 100 administrations (95% CI) | Error rate per 100 administrations (95% CI) | |
| Wrong intravenous rate | 41/88 | 46.6 (36.2 to 57.0) | 42/90 | 46.7 (36.4 to 57.0) | −5.7 (−22.8 to 11.5) |
| Wrong timing | 180/1528 | 11.8 (10.2 to 13.4) | 218/1747 | 12.5 (10.9 to 14.0) | −3.4 (−6.7 to 0.01) |
| Wrong solvent volume (injectables) | 4/226 | 1.8 (0.05 to 3.5) | 12/277 | 4.3 (1.9 to 6.7) | 4.3 (−0.7 to 9.4) |
| Wrong dose | 61/1528 | 4.0 (3.0 to 5.0) | 84/1747 | 4.8 (3.8 to 5.8) | −0.4 (−2.2 to 1.4) |
| Wrong solvent (injectables) | 3/226 | 1.3 (0 to 2.8) | 9/277 | 3.3 (1.16 to 5.34) | 3.3 (0.2 to 6.3) |
| Wrong formulation | 26/1528 | 1.7 (1.1 to 2.4) | 32/1747 | 1.83 (1.2 to 2.5) | −0.2 (−1.2 to 0.8) |
| Wrong strength | 52/1528 | 3.4 (2.5 to 4.3) | 50/1747 | 2.9 (2.1 to 3.6) | −1.1 (−2.4 to 0.2) |
| Intravenous with incompatible drug | 0/88 | 0 (0 to 0) | 0/90 | 0 (0 to 0) | 0.03 (−1.3 to 1.4) |
| Wrong drug | 8/1528 | 0.5 (0.2 to 0.9) | 8/1747 | 0.5 (0.1 to 0.8) | 0.3 (−0.3 to 0.9) |
| Extra dose | 2/1528 | 0.1 (0 to 0.3) | 2/1747 | 0.1 (0 to 0.3) | −0.2 (−0.6 to 0.3) |
| Wrong route | 9/1528 | 0.6 (0.2 to 1.0) | 19/1747 | 1.1 (0.6 to 1.6) | 0.2 (−0.5 to 0.9) |
| Unordered drug | 4/1528 | 0.3 (0.01 to 0.5) | 4/1747 | 0.2 (0 to 0.5) | −0.3 (−0.8 to 0.1) |
| All administrations with ≥1 clinical error | 361/1528 | 23.6 (21.5 to 25.8) | 422/1747 | 24.2 (22.2 to 26.2) | −4.2 (−8.3 to 0.2) |
*Change in intervention ward pre/post relative to the change in control ward pre/post. A negative value indicates a decline in error rate.
EMS, electronic medication system.